writer, artist, birder

Second Books are like Second Children

I’m the third sibling of three…the baby. My father was an amateur (and then professional, for a while) photographer. There are hundreds of pictures of my sister, the oldest. (Remember this was 1948, when black & white film had to be hand-developed.) Hundreds.

When my brother came along, six years later, there are fewer. A couple of requisite baby shots, the christening, a few more. But his presence clearly wasn’t as exciting, didn’t need to be recorded in the same way.

This is fairly typical, from what I’ve seen with the photos and video of my nieces and nephews, too. The first baby gets a lot of attention; the rest…not as much. (There are even fewer photos of me.)

And that’s pretty much how I’ve been reacting to the publication of my second book, Empire’s Hostage. Yes, I’m pleased to see it in print. I’m doing my part to promote it. But I lack the ‘look at what I produced! It’s the best baby ever!’ excitement that first child/book engendered. Don’t get me wrong…I think it’s a fine book, a worthy sequel to the first. I’m proud to have written it. Some of the reviews have blown me away. But it’s the second child. I’m more realistic about its prospects and the work involved in getting in out into the world. And with the first still needing attention, and my mind already pregnant with the third, it’s going to fight for its share of my time. Do me a favour? Pay it some attention; it wants to be read. And its older sibling is free right now, on Amazon, for the Kindle reader or app….so for a minimal price, you can have them both. Think of it as a kindness. If I know other people are giving them their share of attention, I can focus on gestating the third baby!

Talking to other writers of series,, this is apparently a common reaction…we’re proud of our second books, and want them to do well, but the next nags at our conscience. I’m already working on Empire’s Exile, you’ll be glad to hear!